Broken Fingers
by lowi
Summary: A oneshot about the Marauders, meeting in the Hospital Wing after a Quidditch match. Written for the Inspiration Of A Title Challenge.


**Written for the Inspiration Of A Title Challenge, in the Harry Potter Challenges Forum.**

**Broken Fingers**

James blinked. He recognized this ceiling. And those faces gathered around him. Oh, that blurry, round one had to be Peter's. And that black-haired one was probably Sirius and then, the last one, of course, was Remus. But where were they? And why was he lying down and the others sitting on his bed? He thought hard and suddenly remembered. The Quidditch match, the bludger, and his fall.

"Hey, why aren't you crying over my body?" James asked which caused them all to turn around and smile widely at him. "I have been unconscious, haven't I?" he continued suspiciously.

Sirius was the first to answer, looking rather bored. "You sure have mate but, you know, usually we don't cry and it's not like you're dead."

James pouted. "So that's the catch. I have to be dead to get you crying over me. That's too bad."

"If it helps, I can tell you that Peter has been quite close to crying. At least when he heard you mumbling "Lily" in your sleep. He found it…" Remus paused, as if looking for the right word. "Romantic, right?"

Peter blushed a flaming red at this. "I did not!" He continued and looked down. "Okay, it was really sweet! Like… Romeo and Juliet! With him dying and all that." He smiled to himself.

"Petey! Haven't we all established that he isn't DEAD?" Sirius slapped his forehead dramatically.

"Ooh, fancy word Paddy!" Remus smiled at Sirius like a proud father, but then smirked and said, "Didn't you just the other day vow to 'never use a word with more than seven consonants'?"

Sirius looked flabbergasted. "Did I?" Everyone nodded. "Nah… then I can't be allowed to use words like…" He frowned and counted on his fingers for a remarkably long time. "Marauder! And that's a very useful word, if you know what I mean." He winked to them all.

Peter started to agree, but Sirius interrupted him again. "It was probably in my sleep that I said it. HEY, YOU ARE A SCARY PERSON WATCHING ME SLEEPING, MOONY!" he shouted and leaned back with his hands raised.

Remus shook his head theatrically. "Oh Merlin, what did I do wrong?"

Suddenly, James shouted and caused Sirius to quickly crawl from beneath James' bed sheets which he had been hiding underneath. "HELLO PEOPLE! I'M STILL HERE! You're supposed to be visiting _me_, not discussing Moony's creepy spying."

"OI!" Remus tried to defend himself, but James simply continued.

"Or Sirius' stupid vowing or Wormy's maudlin manners." He pouted again, and sunk lower into his pillows.

"Alright little Jamie," Sirius said, smiling sweetly. "How are you? Ooh, do you have a fever? Let me see," he said, placing a hand upon James' forehead. "Are you too hot? No, you are freezing! Here, let me tuck you in!" He tucked the bed sheets around James who fought desperately - but uselessly - to get free. "Now go to sleep little baby so you'll be better tomorrow!" He finally kissed James's forehead with a big sloppy kiss, smiling widely.

"STOP IT!" James bellowed, aiming a hit at Sirius.

"No, Jamsie, sweetie pie, you have to take it easy; don't wave your hand like that," Sirius said, pointing his finger at James. "It was your fingers that broke; it's gonna hurt Jamiekins!"

James grimaced. "Ouch, you're right," he groaned.

Remus nodded to this and said sarcastically, "Yeah, he sometimes is."

"Hey, what do you mean by sometimes?" Sirius asked, confused. "I am often right!"

Peter cleared his throat with a meaningful look.

"Hello!" Sirius was now very indignant. "I was right about this Quidditch match! And you…" he continued, pointing at Peter, "…owe me…" But James interrupted him again with a terrified yelp.

"MERLIN! I forgot asking you! How could I?" The last was said with a very small and muffled voice because of the pillow he had put over his head.

"Prongs, it's just Quidditch!" Remus tried to reassure his friend – and prevent him from suffocation.

James emerged quickly from his pillow cover, looking astonished. "What? Just Quidditch? Moony, haven't we gone through this like a million times, that you can _never _say 'just Quidditch'?"

"It is just a game…" Remus tried to argue, but got interrupted by Sirius who rolled his eyes.

"Anyway. The game went good, even though you fell off of your broom, but we still won." This was said very quickly and James was eager to hear more about the game, but Sirius simply continued. "And, you Wormy… owe me FIVE galleons." He finished with a huge smile and his hand outstretched to Peter who slowly pulled up five galleons and put them in said hand.

"How come you didn't bet on Gryffindor winning?" Remus asked puzzled. "Really, Petey, that's very odd, since the circumstances have been really good for Gryffindor all year. And, not to mention, it's your own house!"

"Ehm... well..." Peter said, blushing violently.

"It's just because he fancies the Rawenclaw Keeper," Sirius said absently, counting the sickles Peter had been having a lot of trouble finding deep in his pockets.

"Do not!" Peter answered quickly, with an even redder face.

"Do too!" Sirius smirked, but still with his focus on the coins he had spread on the foot of the bed.

Their argument continued, but James' thoughts soon drifted away to the Quidditch match. He celebrated the victory with a little happy dance, or at least tried to do so since it was hard to move when he was lying down.

"Ehm… Prongsie? What are you doing?" Remus asked, bewildered after seeing his friend swaying and moving in the bed.

"A happy dance!" James announced proudly.

"Oh," Remus answered, even though he didn't think it explained anything. He then looked over at Sirius and Peter. The latter was now picking up another handful of coins with the face of someone smitten, handing them to Sirius who gladly accepted them.

Remus frowned and asked, "What was the bet about now?"

"About him admitting that he liked someone," Sirius explained with a smirk and a pat on Peter's back.

"When did you do that bet?" Remus asked, now smiling.

"Third year," Sirius told them. "Let me quote," he continued and put on a _very_important-looking face, at least in his own opinion. "'Sirius, I would never ever admit to you that I liked some of those ugly girls! You are the only one that thinks girls are pretty and I will never ever join you in that!' End of quote," Sirius said turning to Remus, who now was very close to smirking himself.

"Oh," Remus said with narrowed eyes. "I think I remember."

"I remember," Sirius interposed.

"Was it when that fifth year girl had been snickering at Peter?" Remus asked Sirius who was just about to answer when Peter interrupted him, flaming red.

"Shut it Sirius! Don't even think about saying one single word!"

"You don't want me to tell?" Sirius asked with a look of pure innocence.

"NO!"

"How comes Petey?" Remus wanted to know, looking as innocent as Sirius, but that is unfortunately not saying very much. "You now, nostalgia is never wrong, laughing at old memories…."

"I said NO!" Peter yelled.

"But the story is so…." Sirius started, with a dreamy voice.

"Hey! You don't care at all about my fingers, do you?" James asked suddenly, a bit irritated, but most of all looking sad.

Sirius widened his eyes in fear. "Of course we do, your ickle fingers are the most precious parts of you!" He grabbed James hand, luckily the one that wasn't broken, and clutched it to his heart. "How could we NOT care?"

Remus smacked Sirius, who winced and pouted.

"Was that necessary?" he grumbled.

"Areyou going to stop being an annoying prat anytime soon? Do I have to stay here listening to your rubbish or could I do something that isn't a complete waste of time?" Remus sighed.

"Hey, you're in fact visiting me! Is that really a waste of time?" James asked with a hurt look, but Peter interrupted.

"Like what, Rem?" he asked curiously.

"Ehrm…" Remus answered, with a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Yeah, what?" Sirius asked with a broad smile, happy to move the attention away from himself. "Continue your knitting or finish your transfiguration homework that is due three months from now?"

"Four days Sirius!" Peter said worriedly.

Remus didn't care though, used to Sirius forgetting to do his homework. In fact, he had stopped reminding Sirius in third year. He could deal with the teacher's wrath himself. "I don't knit! Where did that come from?" he asked in astonishment.

"Ah, you see, it's the only thing that could possibly be a less of a waste of time than listening to me..." Sirius explained as though he was talking to a three-year old.

Remus smirked. "You think so?"

"Sure do!" Sirius said, but seeing the other's faces his smile changed to a look of sheer confusion. "Eh?"

The laughter of the other three Marauders filled the Hospital Wing, until Remus came to his senses and hushed them. James held his breath for a while and finally managed to grin at Sirius.

"You know you just admitted that knitting, out of everything, was better than listening to you speak?"

"Oh," Sirius said with his brow furrowed. "No, I didn't mean like that!" He now looked so confused that the three other boys couldn't hold back their snickers.

"What did you mean, Padfoot?" Peter asked shaking with giggles.

"I meant…" Sirius started but faltered when he saw Remus' and James' smiles.

"Ehm… OH LOOK!" he called out to change the topic as fast as possible. Every Marauder had an ace up his sleeve, right? "Madam Pomfrey! Guess she wants us to be quieter." All this was said in a speed Sirius only had when he was high on sugar. "And, shouldn't she have fixed your arm by now? I'll call for her!" He jumped off the bed and actually skipped over to Madam Pomfrey, the young new employee. They were all familiar with the fact that Sirius had a bit of a crush on her, so the other three didn't care that much when he embraced her from the back, and the little crash when she dropped the bowl she had been holding only made Peter jump.

While she was scolding Sirius, who didn't even bother to look embarrassed and instead only smiled his (according to him) 'lady's smile', James said to Remus, "Don't interrogate him about the knitting until I'm back."

"Sure, mate," Remus answered, high fiving James' unharmed hand.

In the meantime, Sirius was done excusing himself to Madam Pomfrey and had brought her to James' bed. "Well, what I was coming to say was that you haven't done James' arm yet. He's in quite a lot of pain." He then turned to the rest of them and added in a hiss, "Or will be anytime soon if he and his friends don't shut it!"

This and the glare he sent them were both unnoticed by Madam Pomfrey who gasped, "Oh, Merlin! You know, boys, your Quidditch games always give me so much to do; I completely forgot about you, Potter."

"It's alright." James smiled.

Madam Pomfrey didn't pay much attention to James' reassurance, but simply waved the other boys off. "Now, now, off you go boys, won't take you long to get your friend back!" she said absently, starting to hustle them to the door. "Luckily, it's just some broken fingers. You should be happy, Potter, that it's nothing worse than that. Like, for example, having to regrow your bones. I can tell you that seeing someone in that much pain isn't a pretty sight."

The four marauders all shuddered, and Peter muttered, "Something I wouldn't even wish for my greatest enemy's son."

Sirius eyed him with a fearful look, but then smiled encouraging and slung an arm on his shoulder on the way out. "Even if it was Snivellus' son?"

Remus who was following just behind them, shook his head and after giving a thumbs-up to James he said, "Paddy, come on."

"Just kidding, you know that!" Sirius said with a grin. Turning back he shouted, "See you in a few, Prongsie, all mended and fixed!" James waved back before Pomfrey started closing the door.

"Now, you wait here outside and Potter will come in one minute," she said and the door was abruptly shut.

Sirius eyed the closed door thoughtfully. "Wow, one minute. She's fast," he said dryly.

"Yeah, when she's saving a friend for little Sirius she would hurry, right?" Remus answered him, rolling his eyes.

"That's not what I meant!" Sirius frowned.

"What did you mean then?" Peter asked, looking thoroughly interested.

"I meant… I don't know what I meant!" Sirius tilted his head, trying to figure out what he actually meant by his statement. He started to pace the room, which led to Remus sighing and picking up a spare parchment which he began scribbling on. Peter still stood watching the pacing Sirius, very curious of Sirius's mysterious saying.

"Have you found out yet?" he asked hopefully.

"No," Sirius said flatly. "And _now_ I've given up."

"Aw," Peter whined. "I wanted to know!" Just after that, the door swung open and revealed a smiling James.

"PRONGSIE!" Sirius shouted and leaped right onto James, who swayed alarmingly under Sirius' weight.

"Wow, you're really happy to see me, Paddy?" James said a little surprised but patted Sirius on his head nevertheless.

"Yeah," Sirius answered, snuggling into James' chest. "I've missed you tons, mate!"

"You know it has only been a couple of minutes since we saw him?" Remus asked smirking.

"Yes, I know!" Sirius said impatiently. "But I had forgotten how terribly boring it is with only you two guys!" he explained with a wink.

"Just because we confuse you all the time," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, yes, you do," Sirius stated. "And okay, maybe you're not boring, but I think when the Marauders aren't all gathered, there's always something missing." He placed his hand on his heart and continued in a solemn voice. "In here."

"Aw, Sirius, that's so sweet," James said mockingly. What? Sirius had treated him like a child before, so this revenge was to be expected.

"Just because I appreciate my friends," Sirius pouted.

Peter interrupted him with his face lit up. "But I agree!" he said happily. "We Marauders should _never_be separated! We are like the greatest foursome ever; we are flawless!"

"Exactly!" Sirius said, glad for someone to side with. "So stop nagging me, for Merlin's sake."

"Alright, alright", James said and raised his hands in defeat. "I won't nag you about being surprisingly cute anymore, since you are now two people saying so."

"That's good, Jamsie!" Sirius said, prodding James on his back.

Remus rolled his eyes, before turning over to Madam Pomfrey. "Bye Madam and thanks!"

"It's alright, dear", she answered with a smile. "Hope I won't see you too soon, boys!" she added solemnly and closed the door. Of course she knew it wouldn't take too long until they had returned to her with another injury for her to nurse. Well, at least her work varied with these four. Potter had always hurt himself in Quidditch, or – since he wouldn't approve of "hurt _himself"_ very much – been damaged by either a vicious bludger or an opponent determined to take the successful chaser down.

Then there was Lupin, Madam Pomfrey thought ruefully. Once a month he arrived with scars, bruises, all black and blue. But the fear she had felt – and now regretted and was a bit ashamed of - before their first meeting had been replaced with admiration for the young werewolf who simply accepted faith's more evil turns and remained pure and warm-hearted.

The third boy, Pettigrew, needed her mostly because of his clumsiness: tripping over his feet and spraining his ankle, dropping something heavy, for example, his caldron on his foot, or just hitting his head somewhere. Merlin knew she had developed her skill of fixing bumps thanks to this short, chubby Gryffindor.

And the last of their group, Black who had to come to her when his latest girlfriend, or more likely, _ex-_girlfriend had hexed him beyond recognition. She couldn't help being impressed by the girls ingenuity; Black never arrived in the same condition twice. Though, she had to say he deserved it a little bit. He didn't treat his girlfriends too well, but being a Black had to show somewhere, she guessed. The first two years, with him being a Gryffindor and shocking all of the teachers with how different he was from his family, were perfectly innocent. Then girls got into the picture and, well, it was probably impossible for him to be all good and innocent with such genes, Madam Pomfrey concluded. So therefore Black deserved most of the girl's revenges, quite different from Potter who also got his full share of hexes by girls.

But in this case it was only one girl firing them, Lily Evans. Madam Pomfrey was perfectly sure the fierce girl would come over her dislike for Potter, so sure she had actually made a bet on it. A betting Madam Pomfrey was rarely seen, but she rather saw this as an investment. They were bound to get together, she thought with a fond smile before turning all of her attention to the young McLaggen in one of the other beds.

Just when she was about to switch his poultices (the effect of a nasty accident in the greenhouses including some bubotubes and an, in her opinion, unhealthy urge for bragging) a knock was heard on the doors. She hurried over after insuring McLaggen of her return and found some rueful boys outside.

Well, only two were rueful, one was unconscious and carried by the others, and one was winking at her. "Fancy seeing you here again, Madam Pomfrey," Black said.

Pomfrey looked over at the limp Pettigrew and realized she had forgotten one thing in the reasons of their frequent visits to her. Their pranks which every now and then backfired. And looking closely at Pettigrew she was certain it was so in this case. Otherwise, or perhaps _hopefully_, the boy wouldn't have been covered in purple dots and stripes.

"It's been five minutes since we left, this must be some sort of school record," Potter said while he dropped Pettigrew on the bed Pomfrey had showed them to.

**A/N: Many thanks to XxXRegretXxX for betareading this!**


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